Shop fit out costs

[IwanG]

I'm in the process of writing a business plan - concept is a slowly cooked meat take away/small sit in area (similar to Subway in concept and prices). I'm now working on the 'fit-out' section - which is quite difficult when you don't have a specific property in mind yet! I've worked out the following calculations based on a shop that is 70 square meters, will have some kind of infrastructure required to run a food establishment and will need some building work done. All feedback would be appreciated - especially if you've experience in this kind of enterprise. Comes in at just under 65k

Restaurant Fit-Out (based on 70 square meters)
Infrastructure
Qty Amount VAT To pay
electrics and lighting 1 £1,500 £300 £1,800
extraction 1 £10,000 £1,000 £11,000
fire alarms 1 £1,000 £200 £1,200
CCTV 1 £1,000 £200 £1,200
EPSO till system 1 £1,000 £200 £1,200
fire extinguishers 5 £125 £25 £150
flooring 1 £1,000 £200 £1,200
air-con 1 £2,000 £400 £2,400
shop sign 1 £750 £150 £900
boards 4 £200 £40 £240

Kitchen Fit-Out
Hog Roast Machines 2 £7,400 £1,480 £8,880
Walk in Fridge 1 £4,750 £950 £5,700
Fridge 1 £630 £126 £756
Freezer 1 £590 £118 £708
Dishwasher 1 £820 £164 £984
Cookers 2 £640 £64 £704
Microwave 1 £300 £60 £360
deep pot sink 1 £280 £56 £336
hand wash basin 1 £100 £20 £120
kitchen work table 1 £160 £32 £192
electric hob 1 £200 £20 £220
wall cabinets 4 £280 £280
base cabinets 5 £200 £200

Shop
Counter 1 £500 £100 £600
Tables 6 £540 £104 £644
Chairs 12 £360 £72 £432
under counter fridge 2 £740 £148 £888
coffee machine 1 £1,500 £300 £1,800
hot meat warmer 1 £900 £180 £1,080
decoration 1 £2,000 £400 £2,400
designer 1 £3,000 £600 £3,600
Health & Safety 1 £1,500 £300 £1,800
Builders 1 £8,000 £1,600 £9,600
£63,574

 

[Mark T Jones]

Well done on thought-through, detailed calculations


Like you say, much will depend on the premises themselves, but there is likely to be a charge for stripping and ' works'. Often as much as 29% of the overall cost

Without fully understanding your business, phase 3 electricity can be both expensive and a lot of hassle

Remember to account for licences etc - and get allocations rolling early

Also, if your premises are in any way listed, you can add a big wodge if time and money into your plans!

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I kitted out a sandwich shop/small bakery from scratch a few years ago. I would say a couple of things, firstly on specific costs;

- Flooring seems cheap, what kind of floor are you looking at? Your standard laminate flooring or cheap vinyl isn't going to cut it. I think we paid around the amount you've put there to cover around 20m2 recently in hard wearing "hospital style" flooring. (I think - I'll see if I can dig out the paperwork)

- If you want a really deep pot sink (and trust me, you do!) then your price seems cheap, especially if you factor in an upright tap with spray/rinse nozzle. Think we paid closer to £600 in total for ours.

- What sort of sign are you expecting for £750? If you're considering illuminated, 3D letters etc that is going to be way off the mark

- Wall cabinets I would not recommend for hygiene reasons, consider stainless steel shelves instead either on the wall or the stainless upright racks you can get

- Not really sure what "decoration" at £2000 covers. Especially if you're paying £3000 for a designer (do you really need to do this??) then I'd imagine they're coming up with something pretty special that's going to require more than £2000 to implement.

- Can't see anything in here for counter displays - are you going to have product on display, drinks, salad etc a la subway or any hot hold food?



Just some general pointers;

- Consider whether you really need to buy new with everything? Catering places are going bump all the time, there is always stuff coming up for auction. We bought everything second hand to begin with and slowly but surely we are (or were, pre-covid!) starting to replace it with newer stuff. Fridges and freezers can be a bit of a ballache if they're close to the gas going but if stuff has come out of a working environment and gone into an auction due to business closure, it's generally OK....don't trust random one off items on ebay!

- One note on fridges and freezers, try to stay away from domestic stuff if you can. Proper catering stuff in stainless steel and racked out to take GN pans etc is so much easier to use and clean.

- Consider whether you really need everything to begin with? Is a dishwasher really necessary or are you better paying a pot washer a few quid an hour? Do you need a microwave at almost £400? We have one now that was that much, but for a good 12 months we managed with a £30 one from Tesco. There's loads of savings there that can add up at this initial stage for you, and one thing I can say is that it's rewarding to see your business make money and think "right, if we have a good week this week we're going to invest in a new microwave" (I know - I never thought I would get excited about such dull things!!!). But rather than borrowing or sinking in so much money up front could you err on the side of caution? Consider how you could manage without things, e.g. do you really need a walk in fridge at this stage? Or could you negotiate with your suppliers to make daily deliveries to you so you don't need huge amounts of storage space? Again for a good 12 months or so our butcher delivered to us pretty much every single day. We utilise both Brakes, Bako, and Booker (they all offer 1 delivery day a week) but by using all 3 we can actually get 3 deliveries a week meaning less storage space required.



Hope this helps and best of luck

 

[Mark T Jones]

Fantastic feedback @BusterBloodvessel

Remember OP, there are a lot of fitted out units becoming available. In many cases the catering equipment only needs moderate upgrades (and licences will be intact)

There are lots of deals to be had!

 

[IwanG]

I kitted out a sandwich shop/small bakery from scratch a few years ago. I would say a couple of things, firstly on specific costs;

- Flooring seems cheap, what kind of floor are you looking at? Your standard laminate flooring or cheap vinyl isn't going to cut it. I think we paid around the amount you've put there to cover around 20m2 recently in hard wearing "hospital style" flooring. (I think - I'll see if I can dig out the paperwork)

- If you want a really deep pot sink (and trust me, you do!) then your price seems cheap, especially if you factor in an upright tap with spray/rinse nozzle. Think we paid closer to £600 in total for ours.

- What sort of sign are you expecting for £750? If you're considering illuminated, 3D letters etc that is going to be way off the mark

- Wall cabinets I would not recommend for hygiene reasons, consider stainless steel shelves instead either on the wall or the stainless upright racks you can get

- Not really sure what "decoration" at £2000 covers. Especially if you're paying £3000 for a designer (do you really need to do this??) then I'd imagine they're coming up with something pretty special that's going to require more than £2000 to implement.

- Can't see anything in here for counter displays - are you going to have product on display, drinks, salad etc a la subway or any hot hold food?



Just some general pointers;

- Consider whether you really need to buy new with everything? Catering places are going bump all the time, there is always stuff coming up for auction. We bought everything second hand to begin with and slowly but surely we are (or were, pre-covid!) starting to replace it with newer stuff. Fridges and freezers can be a bit of a ballache if they're close to the gas going but if stuff has come out of a working environment and gone into an auction due to business closure, it's generally OK....don't trust random one off items on ebay!

- One note on fridges and freezers, try to stay away from domestic stuff if you can. Proper catering stuff in stainless steel and racked out to take GN pans etc is so much easier to use and clean.

- Consider whether you really need everything to begin with? Is a dishwasher really necessary or are you better paying a pot washer a few quid an hour? Do you need a microwave at almost £400? We have one now that was that much, but for a good 12 months we managed with a £30 one from Tesco. There's loads of savings there that can add up at this initial stage for you, and one thing I can say is that it's rewarding to see your business make money and think "right, if we have a good week this week we're going to invest in a new microwave" (I know - I never thought I would get excited about such dull things!!!). But rather than borrowing or sinking in so much money up front could you err on the side of caution? Consider how you could manage without things, e.g. do you really need a walk in fridge at this stage? Or could you negotiate with your suppliers to make daily deliveries to you so you don't need huge amounts of storage space? Again for a good 12 months or so our butcher delivered to us pretty much every single day. We utilise both Brakes, Bako, and Booker (they all offer 1 delivery day a week) but by using all 3 we can actually get 3 deliveries a week meaning less storage space required.



Hope this helps and best of luck

I kitted out a sandwich shop/small bakery from scratch a few years ago. I would say a couple of things, firstly on specific costs;

- Flooring seems cheap, what kind of floor are you looking at? Your standard laminate flooring or cheap vinyl isn't going to cut it. I think we paid around the amount you've put there to cover around 20m2 recently in hard wearing "hospital style" flooring. (I think - I'll see if I can dig out the paperwork)

- If you want a really deep pot sink (and trust me, you do!) then your price seems cheap, especially if you factor in an upright tap with spray/rinse nozzle. Think we paid closer to £600 in total for ours.

- What sort of sign are you expecting for £750? If you're considering illuminated, 3D letters etc that is going to be way off the mark

- Wall cabinets I would not recommend for hygiene reasons, consider stainless steel shelves instead either on the wall or the stainless upright racks you can get

- Not really sure what "decoration" at £2000 covers. Especially if you're paying £3000 for a designer (do you really need to do this??) then I'd imagine they're coming up with something pretty special that's going to require more than £2000 to implement.

- Can't see anything in here for counter displays - are you going to have product on display, drinks, salad etc a la subway or any hot hold food?



Just some general pointers;

- Consider whether you really need to buy new with everything? Catering places are going bump all the time, there is always stuff coming up for auction. We bought everything second hand to begin with and slowly but surely we are (or were, pre-covid!) starting to replace it with newer stuff. Fridges and freezers can be a bit of a ballache if they're close to the gas going but if stuff has come out of a working environment and gone into an auction due to business closure, it's generally OK....don't trust random one off items on ebay!

- One note on fridges and freezers, try to stay away from domestic stuff if you can. Proper catering stuff in stainless steel and racked out to take GN pans etc is so much easier to use and clean.

- Consider whether you really need everything to begin with? Is a dishwasher really necessary or are you better paying a pot washer a few quid an hour? Do you need a microwave at almost £400? We have one now that was that much, but for a good 12 months we managed with a £30 one from Tesco. There's loads of savings there that can add up at this initial stage for you, and one thing I can say is that it's rewarding to see your business make money and think "right, if we have a good week this week we're going to invest in a new microwave" (I know - I never thought I would get excited about such dull things!!!). But rather than borrowing or sinking in so much money up front could you err on the side of caution? Consider how you could manage without things, e.g. do you really need a walk in fridge at this stage? Or could you negotiate with your suppliers to make daily deliveries to you so you don't need huge amounts of storage space? Again for a good 12 months or so our butcher delivered to us pretty much every single day. We utilise both Brakes, Bako, and Booker (they all offer 1 delivery day a week) but by using all 3 we can actually get 3 deliveries a week meaning less storage space required.



Hope this helps and best of luck

Wow! Thanks for such a detailed feedback

· Flooring – I googled ‘commercial flooring’ and had options ranging from £11 a square meter. Closer inspection of the photos does reveal that they are more for domestic purposes. This is something that needs to be looked at again

· There is a Vogue deep pot sink for £335 on the web . But you’re right I haven’t included the taps and spray. Another £150 should cover it

· I did a bit of research into the sign – and what I was looking at was more of a basic sign rather than a more fancy one

· I was reading an article recently regarding ‘designers’ – and that they can vary anywhere between 3k and 15k depending on what needs doing. As I only want guidance on a 70 square foot space I would be looking at the lower end – so that’s where the 3k for a designer came from. Just thought it would be handy to give clear plans and instructions to the builders, guidance on planning - also they would probably have a long list of suppliers and a host of good ideas

· I’ve probably gone a bit OTT on the decoration side of things. But I would like a few quirky items/concepts on the walls. This is something that could wait until a few quid has gone through the till!!

· I have included under counter fridges and meat warming device in the list

I will certainly be looking at ways to save a few quid (especially as my bill for the builders has increased quite a bit) – will certainly shop around for good second hand fridges and freezers, cheaper microwave and so on. Will probably buy everything that’s in the shop itself new as I need them to look the part. No way around the ‘walk in fridge’ as the meat is quite rare and the suppliers will only be making the deliveries a couple of times a week

 

[IwanG]

Well done on thought-through, detailed calculations


Like you say, much will depend on the premises themselves, but there is likely to be a charge for stripping and ' works'. Often as much as 29% of the overall cost

Without fully understanding your business, phase 3 electricity can be both expensive and a lot of hassle

Remember to account for licences etc - and get allocations rolling early

Also, if your premises are in any way listed, you can add a big wodge if time and money into your plans!

Thanks for the reply

As regards to ‘stripping and work’ I’ve allocated 8k to ‘building’(9.6k with VAT) – which was a very rough ballpark figure on my behalf. If it’s a general rule of thumb that ‘Stripping and work’ can be 30% of total expenditure I’m going to amend my ‘builders’ figure to 22k with VAT (better to over compensate) – and try to get cheaper alternatives elsewhere.

I didn’t even know that such a thing as ‘phase 3 electrics’ even existed! So thanks for bringing this to my attention. So as far as electrical appliances are concerned I will have the following. Not sure if this needs ‘phase 3’

Dishwasher – power 3Kw

2 small cookers with 13amp plugs (2.7kw x 2)

Commercial fridge 230V

Commercial freezer power 150W, power supply 230V/1 phase

Walk in fridge voltage 230/1 phase/50 V

Hot meat warmer 4080W / power supply 230V /1 phase

2 undercounter fridges – (230 W/1.8A/230V) X 2

Coffee machine – power 5200W/power boiler 5000W/Power supply 230V/1 phase

Bain Marie – 1.3kw/13 amp plug


What kind of licences did you have in mind? I will certainly be keeping away from any listed buildings....

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks for the reply

As regards to ‘stripping and work’ I’ve allocated 8k to ‘building’(9.6k with VAT) – which was a very rough ballpark figure on my behalf. If it’s a general rule of thumb that ‘Stripping and work’ can be 30% of total expenditure I’m going to amend my ‘builders’ figure to 22k with VAT (better to over compensate) – and try to get cheaper alternatives elsewhere.

I didn’t even know that such a thing as ‘phase 3 electrics’ even existed! So thanks for bringing this to my attention. So as far as electrical appliances are concerned I will have the following. Not sure if this needs ‘phase 3’

Dishwasher – power 3Kw

2 small cookers with 13amp plugs (2.7kw x 2)

Commercial fridge 230V

Commercial freezer power 150W, power supply 230V/1 phase

Walk in fridge voltage 230/1 phase/50 V

Hot meat warmer 4080W / power supply 230V /1 phase

2 undercounter fridges – (230 W/1.8A/230V) X 2

Coffee machine – power 5200W/power boiler 5000W/Power supply 230V/1 phase

Bain Marie – 1.3kw/13 amp plug


What kind of licences did you have in mind? I will certainly be keeping away from any listed buildings....

Since my electrical know-how ends at wiring a plug, I'll avouid advising on 3 Phase - I'm just reflecting issues I've known customers to face.

Assuming you are going to sell acohol, you will need personal & premise licences.

The premises will also need licence to sell hot food. These may already be in place, but don't expect Councils to rush themselves if they aren't.

Not wishing to be negative - your research is far better than many - but it is virtually unknown for these things to come in on time & on budget - so build in a contingency of at least 20% on your final researched figure!

 

[Stedurham]

flooring will be £20 a metre to screen floor and fit, thats in north eat we work on £35/40 a metre on fit out
cookers dont know what you are cooking but that half what my house oven was guess you are not buying stardard oven
table and chairs seems very vheap, spend the money and will last longer
Same with coffee machine recent one we did was 5k, so depebds what you need and are targeting only you can ansewer that

 

[BigDreamer]

flooring will be £20 a metre to screen floor and fit, thats in north eat we work on £35/40 a metre on fit out
cookers dont know what you are cooking but that half what my house oven was guess you are not buying stardard oven
table and chairs seems very vheap, spend the money and will last longer
Same with coffee machine recent one we did was 5k, so depebds what you need and are targeting only you can ansewer that

£35/£40 a meter to fit out the entire shop?

 

[WaveJumper]

Adding to the excellent advice already given I think your figures for electrical works will be a lot higher than your planned figure especially if 3 phase is required, just think about the amount of sockets and cable runs that are going to be required also don't forget general lighting.

Depending on where you settle on a premises and type of landlord you may have to submit professional drawn designs for approval. When you do find s suitable premises don't forget to ask for a rent free period, and much larger landlords may not negotiate on the level of rent but may contribute towards fit out costs

 

[Mr D]

Can be useful when figuring out equipment to mock up some floor units from cardboard. Just flat cardboard on the floor - can do it in back garden with a bit of weight to stop them moving in the wind.
And lay out how you want things to look.

Sometimes ideas in your head do not translate to as much space as you end up needing.

 

[WaveJumper]

I also meant to add to my list burglar alarm (could be an insurance requirement) and depending on the area a roller shutter

 

[Mark T Jones]

Can be useful when figuring out equipment to mock up some floor units from cardboard. Just flat cardboard on the floor - can do it in back garden with a bit of weight to stop them moving in the wind.
And lay out how you want things to look.

Sometimes ideas in your head do not translate to as much space as you end up needing.

Good point. Thing very hard about workflow - it can have a big impact!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Didn't see anything for epos.

 

[Talay]

I can't comment on all but I will throw in what we looked at and eventually did.

Refitting of our retail estate was estimated at the top end at £75/100k per store with mid range at £40/65k per store. That would have chewed up between £1m and £2m and was just not feasible.

So we picked one store and decided to do a detailed plan ourselves and see where we could economise and where we could be sensible and get perhaps 90% of the effect for 10% of the cost.

We bought enough laminate flooring for 4 shops from one of the DIY shops as an end of line with nearly 80% off. We were paying £8 or so a pack instead of £50 or thereabouts. Whichever store group it was showed stock online so we simply bought it online for collection and went round and picked it all up in a van from about 6 or 7 stores. Savings of £10/15k right there and we'll do the same for the remaining stores.

We learned a trick from a friend about Ikeas kitchen units, turned around and putting perspex signage on 1 inch spacers to crease a 3D view and with £35/50 of good perspex, you are good to go. Buy the tops from Ikea and if one every gets smashed up, you simply unbolt and buy another one. The carcases of the kitchen units are good quality and they last well.

Lighting is easy. LED panels and new insulated ceiling tiles will keep down heating costs and a Dimplex hot air curtain over the door stops the heat getting out. All wiring can be done by someone even half competent at wiring a plug. Just get a professional to sign off the end installation.

EPOS is cloud based so you need fibre broadband but that can come with free VOIP calls so buy a decent telephony package. You can run from a glorified tablet setup or you can run it from any PC that can run Windows 10. Find cheap PCs and a lot of other thigs on https://www.hotukdeals.com/

I second the advice to buy kitchen equipment second hand and you might even find a place where you can buy it still installed. Get onto the auction websites such as https://www.marriottco.co.uk/ and register. Obviously ebay too. Don't underestimate posts on Facebook groups asking for stuff.

Half the stuff on your list you don't need on day 1 or even day 100. Make do and mend they used to say and that is the truth. You can get loads of good stuff for buttons. Right now I have about 6 or 8 domestic Bosch washing machines surplus to requirements. All well looked after, low mileage but honestly, I'd be lucky to get £100 a pop and maybe not £50. Yet they are £500+ new.

Dodgy walls need plastering ? If you are good with a saw and can do basic joinery, batten the walls and put up 4' x 8' slatwall and just paint from the ceiling down to the top of the boards. Put on a skirting board or metal kickplate and you are done when using chrome plated uprights.

Floor not level ? forget screeding it and just get some 3mm hardboard and cut it up to cover the voids, building up where required and then glue it together, using a 3m or so long spirit level with a small digital gauge on top.

Tiles required ? Easy to get from end of season, sales, bankrupt stock etc.

You need to get creative because every hour you spend reducing your costs will be earning you £100s per hour. When you open the door, you will be lucky to make £20 per hour and you would have loads more debt.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I can't comment on all but I will throw in what we looked at and eventually did.

Refitting of our retail estate was estimated at the top end at £75/100k per store with mid range at £40/65k per store. That would have chewed up between £1m and £2m and was just not feasible.

So we picked one store and decided to do a detailed plan ourselves and see where we could economise and where we could be sensible and get perhaps 90% of the effect for 10% of the cost.

We bought enough laminate flooring for 4 shops from one of the DIY shops as an end of line with nearly 80% off. We were paying £8 or so a pack instead of £50 or thereabouts. Whichever store group it was showed stock online so we simply bought it online for collection and went round and picked it all up in a van from about 6 or 7 stores. Savings of £10/15k right there and we'll do the same for the remaining stores.

We learned a trick from a friend about Ikeas kitchen units, turned around and putting perspex signage on 1 inch spacers to crease a 3D view and with £35/50 of good perspex, you are good to go. Buy the tops from Ikea and if one every gets smashed up, you simply unbolt and buy another one. The carcases of the kitchen units are good quality and they last well.

Lighting is easy. LED panels and new insulated ceiling tiles will keep down heating costs and a Dimplex hot air curtain over the door stops the heat getting out. All wiring can be done by someone even half competent at wiring a plug. Just get a professional to sign off the end installation.

EPOS is cloud based so you need fibre broadband but that can come with free VOIP calls so buy a decent telephony package. You can run from a glorified tablet setup or you can run it from any PC that can run Windows 10. Find cheap PCs and a lot of other thigs on https://www.hotukdeals.com/

I second the advice to buy kitchen equipment second hand and you might even find a place where you can buy it still installed. Get onto the auction websites such as https://www.marriottco.co.uk/ and register. Obviously ebay too. Don't underestimate posts on Facebook groups asking for stuff.

Half the stuff on your list you don't need on day 1 or even day 100. Make do and mend they used to say and that is the truth. You can get loads of good stuff for buttons. Right now I have about 6 or 8 domestic Bosch washing machines surplus to requirements. All well looked after, low mileage but honestly, I'd be lucky to get £100 a pop and maybe not £50. Yet they are £500+ new.

Dodgy walls need plastering ? If you are good with a saw and can do basic joinery, batten the walls and put up 4' x 8' slatwall and just paint from the ceiling down to the top of the boards. Put on a skirting board or metal kickplate and you are done when using chrome plated uprights.

Floor not level ? forget screeding it and just get some 3mm hardboard and cut it up to cover the voids, building up where required and then glue it together, using a 3m or so long spirit level with a small digital gauge on top.

Tiles required ? Easy to get from end of season, sales, bankrupt stock etc.

You need to get creative because every hour you spend reducing your costs will be earning you £100s per hour. When you open the door, you will be lucky to make £20 per hour and you would have loads more debt.

Useful stuff. As someone who earns a living from financing this stuff I'm continually shocked by the money start ups are happy to waste on what is often just vanity

Spend the real money where reliability, durability and customer experience matter. Elsewhere, string and blue-tac will then suffice

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Useful stuff. As someone who earns a living from financing this stuff I'm continually shocked by the money start ups are happy to waste on what is often just vanity

Maybe not just vanity but lack of knowledge? Who would think to batten a dodgy wall and cover it with ready-finished sheet material that doesn't already have some prior experience of doing that?

I recently soundproofed my office using basic materials that cost less than £150. There are companies out there that would charge me thousands for achieving the same - albeit in a slightly prettier manner.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Maybe not just vanity but lack of knowledge? Who would think to batten a dodgy wall and cover it with ready-finished sheet material that doesn't already have some prior experience of doing that?

I recently soundproofed my office using basic materials that cost less than £150. There are companies out there that would charge me thousands for achieving the same - albeit in a slightly prettier manner.

I mostly refer to vanity or folly TBH

I do accept people wanting to pay professionals for their skills, or fearing buying used. But a lot of folk spec up invisible areas just because they 'like the best'.

 

[Talay]

Maybe not just vanity but lack of knowledge? Who would think to batten a dodgy wall and cover it with ready-finished sheet material that doesn't already have some prior experience of doing that?

I recently soundproofed my office using basic materials that cost less than £150. There are companies out there that would charge me thousands for achieving the same - albeit in a slightly prettier manner.

We had no knowledge before we went into it. We grew the retail side of the business very quickly through acquisition over the last 8 or 9 years and yes, the properties were in need of updating but not wanting to just waste money we too our time.

A lot of it is spending the time to go look at places which you see in an advert or a High Street, putting the hours and late nights in to find suppliers - you won't believe how hard it is to find trade suppliers in anything when all you should have to do is enter the search term and add "trade" or "wholesale".

Ok, I'd tanked a cellar some years previously one summer by myself, getting sparkies in to wire up and check it off. but I could wire a plug aged 5 and I took a washing machine to bits and put it back together again aged 9.

But we took one old and largely inconsequential shop as a dummy run, so if we screwed up, we'd not do so on the flagship stores. We'd also get it down pat but just simple stuff, like can you operate from half a shop while you fix the rest up so you keep the till turning over ?

It's stepping back and using lateral thought really. Common sense they used to call it

 

[Talay]

Useful stuff. As someone who earns a living from financing this stuff I'm continually shocked by the money start ups are happy to waste on what is often just vanity

Spend the real money where reliability, durability and customer experience matter. Elsewhere, string and blue-tac will then suffice

Near my factory there is an old sandwich shop. Hasn't been updated since the 1950/60s except for a new till. But it is clean, the staff are personable, they are attentive and care what they are doing. So I order from there, plus put a bit their way if I can.

I don't need to see they have a £10k fridge or a £5k coffee maker. A £29 one from Argos is fine if it gives me what I need.